Thinking about what paint type, color and quality you want for your renovation or new build can be quite overwhelming.
Likely the easiest of the three is choosing a fantastic color. So what happens after that decision is made? With plenty of choices to choose from, you’ll want to know the differences of each and how they might work for your space.
Paint Types:
- Matte Paint – The most common of interior paint. With no shine or sheen, matte paint is ideal for ceilings and walls. It can take more than one coat to get the color solid and can be applied with a roller or brush. The main con of matte paint is its ability to mark easily; cleaning and touch-ups will be a regular occurrence.
- Matte Enamel – Much the same as matte paint, matte enamel can be applied in the same way and has similar uses. The main difference is that matte enamel tends to be far more durable, making it an excellent choice for kitchens. Less touch-ups makes this paint ideal for homes with kids or pets.
- Satin – A great choice for walls that will need to be cleaned more often, satin paint has a soft sheen and smoothness with a finish somewhere between matte and gloss. Not ideal for walls with imperfections due to its tendency to show imperfections.
- Eggshell – With an extremely subtle shine but without the smoothness that comes from satin, eggshell paint hides those imperfections we don’t want seen. Often it can be applied with just one coat and is the perfect choice for most interior walls.
- Semi-Gloss – Most often used on trim, semi-gloss is a popular interior paint. It is easy to clean and offers a hard finish suitable for heavily used areas. Being a shiny paint, semi-gloss will show more imperfections and will take longer to dry.
- Gloss – A high shine paint that is one of the most commonly used interior paints besides matte, gloss can be used on most any walls. As with semi-gloss, gloss paint takes the longest to dry and shows all the imperfections on a wall.
The quality of the paint you choose can also make a huge difference in its use:
The main components of paint are Pigments, Resins, Solvents and Additives. These ingredients give paint its color, binding agent, carrier and added “extras”.
Higher-Quality paint will last longer and cover better. It has more total solids (pigments and resins) and fewer solvents than lower-quality paint. A higher-quality paint will leave a thicker, tougher film after the solvents have evaporated. Resins (binders) are plastic-like ingredients in paint that bind together to create a film. Higher-quality binders last longer & resist peeling, wear and blistering.
Lower-Quality paint has less solids and more solvents. Opposite of the higher-quality, once the solvents evaporate, the thinner paint film left behind doesn’t cover as well and is far less durable. Money and time will be spent repainting to achieve the look and performance of a higher-quality paint.
Finding the perfect distributor:
We have been working with Spectrum Paint on many of our renovation and construction projects. From excellent customer care to highly reasonable prices, Spectrum have been a huge help with all of our paint and coating needs.
“Spectrum is proud to be one of the largest distributors of paint for PPG Pittsburgh Paints and Benjamin Moore Paints in the nation. These companies are among the oldest, most respected names in the business and are leaders in today’s paint technology. Spectrum also distributes lacquers, stains and specialty coatings from other manufacturers in order to provide our customers a broad and complete offering of paint and related products.”
We highly recommend Spectrum Paint for their knowledge and expertise of all things paint!
Give us a call or message if you’d like to freshen up your space today.